Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Hi friends! I've been busy sprucing things up in my sewing room over the last few weeks. De-cluttering and moving stuff around is my love language. Here's my most recent project!

We recently moved the full sized bed that was in there into my sons room and downsized to a futon for the sewing room. This room also doubles as our guest room so we need to have a place for friends and family to sleep, but it's SO nice to have a cozy "couch" to sit and crochet and blog and rest...ahhh. My happy place!

First let's talk about this fun quilted throw! If you're new to quilting or wanting a first ptoject, this would be a great blanket to start with!

You can find the full tutorial for this quilted throw HERE. This takes a layer cake which is 10x10 squares. I bought this particular layer cakes YEARS ago and have been hoarding it for just the right project. It's Dill Blossom by Robert Kaufman. I just love the sketchy hand-drawn look. Perfect for the craft/sewing room!

The finished throw is 58x58. Perfect lap size.

The back is a pretty aqua kona solid with one row of the leftover blocks from the front. My layer cake was short two squares so I just went through my stash to find a few prints that coordinated.

I think the button detail is my favorite feature of this blanket! I've never quilted with buttons before, but it's so cute!

All in all, I thought this was a GREAT tutorial. Easy to follow and it came together really quickly. I did do a few things differently at the end: I top-stitched around the quilt after I slip-stitched the opening closed. Because you aren't binding it, I think it needs it. Also, I just really like top-stitching. For the buttons...I grabbed an Elmer's glue stick and tacked them down first to assure they wouldn't budge when I was sewing them on. Then I sewed them down with my sewing machine. Yep, you can sew buttons with your sewing machine. There are lots of tutorials on You Tube, but basically, you cover your feed dogs, pop on your button foot, and use a zigzag stitch. Easy peesy. Then I just brought the top threads to the back with a needle and hand tied them.

Ok, onto the pillows!

I just did a simple envelope style pillow cover. The two big pillows came with the futon, but they were just dark gray and screaming for a color makeover! The smaller pillow came with the old set of bedding that we had in here. If you're looking for pillows...hit up Ross. Do not by pillow forms at the fabric store. Way cheaper to by an ugly pillow at Ross and cover it yourself. Bam.

Constriction wise, I just went with a pretty front with a solid back. LOVE the prints for this room. They can all be found at Whole Port. They have a really fun selection of prints and awesome prices!